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7 Spelling and Grammar Errors that Make You Look Dumb
work.lifegoesstrong.com ^ | August 5, 2011 | Leslie Ayres

Posted on 09/28/2011 1:00:49 PM PDT by iowamark

Many brilliant people have some communication weak spots. Unfortunately, the reality is that written communication is a big part of business, and how you write reflects on you. Poor spelling and grammar can destroy a professional image in an instant.

Even if your job doesn't require much business writing, you'll still have emails to send and notes to write. And if you're looking for a job, your cover letters and resumes will likely mean the difference between getting the interview or not.

Bad grammar and spelling make a bad impression. Don't let yourself lose an opportunity over a simple spelling or grammar mistake.

Here are seven simple grammatical errors that I see consistently in emails, cover letters and resumes.

Tip: Make yourself a little card cheat sheet and keep it in your wallet for easy reference.

You're / Your

The apostrophe means it's a contraction of two words; "you're" is the short version of "you are" (the "a" is dropped), so if your sentence makes sense if you say "you are," then you're good to use you're. "Your" means it belongs to you, it's yours.

 You're going to love your new job!

It's / Its

This one is confusing, because generally, in addition to being used in contractions, an apostrophe indicates ownership, as in "Dad's new car." But, "it's" is actually the short version of "it is" or "it has." "Its" with no apostrophe means belonging to it.

It's important to remember to bring your telephone and its extra battery.

They're / Their / There

"They're" is a contraction of "they are." "Their" means belonging to them. "There" refers to a place (notice that the word "here" is part of it, which is also a place – so if it says here and there, it's a place). There = a place

They're going to miss their teachers when they leave there.

Loose / Lose

These spellings really don't make much sense, so you just have to remember them. "Loose" is the opposite of tight, and rhymes with goose. "Lose" is the opposite of win, and rhymes with booze. (To show how unpredictable English is, compare another pair of words, "choose" and "chose," which are spelled the same except the initial sound, but pronounced differently.  No wonder so many people get it wrong!)

I never thought I could lose so much weight; now my pants are all loose!

Lead / Led

Another common but glaring error. "Lead" means you're doing it in the present, and rhymes with deed. "Led" is the past tense of lead, and rhymes with sled. So you can "lead" your current organization, but you "led" the people in your previous job.

My goal is to lead this team to success, just as I led my past teams into winning award after award.

A lot / Alot / Allot

First the bad news: there is no such word as "alot." "A lot" refers to quantity, and "allot" means to distribute or parcel out.

There is a lot of confusion about this one, so I'm going to allot ten minutes to review these rules of grammar.

Between you and I

This one is widely misused, even by TV news anchors who should know better.

In English, we use a different pronoun depending on whether it's the subject or the object of the sentence: I/me, she/her, he/him, they/them. This becomes second nature for us and we rarely make mistakes with the glaring exception of when we have to choose between "you and I" or "you and me."

Grammar Girl does a far better job of explaining this than I, but suffice to say that "between you and I" is never correct, and although it is becoming more common, it's kind of like saying "him did a great job." It is glaringly incorrect.

The easy rule of thumb is to replace the "you and I" or "you and me" with either "we" or "us" and you'll quickly see which form is right. If "us" works, then use "you and me" and if "we" works, then use "you and I."

Between you and me (us), here are the secrets to how you and I (we) can learn to write better.

Master these common errors and you'll remove some of the mistakes and red flags that make you look like you have no idea how to speak.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Education; Reference
KEYWORDS: education; grammar; grammarerrors; grammererrors; orthography; spellcheck; spelling; spellingerrors
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To: kidd

bttt


21 posted on 09/28/2011 1:20:02 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: iowamark

REASONS WHY THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS HARD TO LEARN:
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
LET’S FACE IT—ENGLISH IS A CRAZY LANGUAGE!!!
1)There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
2) English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France.
3) Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
AND CONSIDER THIS......
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth? Or, one goose, 2 geese? So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
Marvel at the unique lunacy of a language where your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn’t a race at all).
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.


22 posted on 09/28/2011 1:20:19 PM PDT by umgud
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To: AnAmericanMother

I find that I use the word “That” way too much.

I once asked a girl to read a paper I had written and correct errors. When she gave the paper back she had marked out a whole bunch of thats in addition to other corrections.


23 posted on 09/28/2011 1:20:40 PM PDT by yarddog
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To: iowamark

Another one which bothers me is random Capital letters. Some writers Insist on capitalizing words which They think are somehow Exalted in status. I think this comes From reading too many Comic books.


24 posted on 09/28/2011 1:21:20 PM PDT by RetroSexual
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To: iowamark

I will have to print this out for my yearbook and newspaper students. They need this badly.


25 posted on 09/28/2011 1:21:35 PM PDT by rwfromkansas ("Carve your name on hearts, not marble." - C.H. Spurgeon)
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To: Magic Fingers

I write in vernacular in certain situations, but never formally. For instance, when using instant messenger type programs I’ll write “prolly” or “fixin’”.


26 posted on 09/28/2011 1:21:59 PM PDT by numberonepal (Palin/Cain 2012)
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To: AnAmericanMother

“which” is used in re to a choice.

“That” is used in re to a specific.


27 posted on 09/28/2011 1:22:35 PM PDT by Lee'sGhost (Johnny Rico picked the wrong girl!)
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To: SES1066

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/all-right-versus-alright.aspx


28 posted on 09/28/2011 1:22:52 PM PDT by iowamark (Rick Perry says I'm heartless.)
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To: iowamark

dam grammer nasties...


29 posted on 09/28/2011 1:22:52 PM PDT by El Cid (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house...)
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To: BenLurkin

LOL


30 posted on 09/28/2011 1:23:32 PM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: Malsua

Yes, “he was hung” is attractive to women. “He was hanged,” not so much.


31 posted on 09/28/2011 1:24:22 PM PDT by PhilosopherStone1000
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To: iowamark

Interchanging “affect” and “effect”. Affect is the action. Effect is the result.

Also, people who use “are” for “our” get on my bad side.


32 posted on 09/28/2011 1:24:22 PM PDT by getarope (I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I am all out of bubble gum!)
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To: umgud

33 posted on 09/28/2011 1:25:45 PM PDT by kidd (Perry is a "conserbatib" - voting "conservative" while holding your nose)
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To: iowamark

Who’s and whose ...
Cloths and clothes (and close) ...
I’ve also noticed a disturbing increase in confusions of wear and where.
Another subtle one is “some time” versus “sometime.”

Its getting hard too tell wear a bodys’ at.


34 posted on 09/28/2011 1:26:26 PM PDT by IronJack (=)
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To: Puppage

Or where are you going to? Cringe factor also.


35 posted on 09/28/2011 1:26:35 PM PDT by DallasSun (Courage~Fear that has said its prayers.)
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To: iowamark
Good post

I struggle with adviser/advisor

36 posted on 09/28/2011 1:27:11 PM PDT by opentalk
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To: iowamark

Excellent examples but hopefully we all know the definition of “dumb”...


37 posted on 09/28/2011 1:27:36 PM PDT by DallasSun (Courage~Fear that has said its prayers.)
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To: umgud

You can pronounce the nonsense “ghiti” as the word “fish” ...

“gh” in the word “enough” sounds like an f.
“i” is, well, “i” (short i)
“ti” is a “sh” sound in words like addition.

I just thought people on FR should know that :-P.


38 posted on 09/28/2011 1:28:06 PM PDT by edh (I need a better tagline)
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To: iowamark
My particular pet peeve is 'than' v. 'then'. It is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me when I see something like, "Obama is dumber then a box of rocks".
39 posted on 09/28/2011 1:28:29 PM PDT by Hoodat (Because they do not change, Therefore they do not fear God. -Psalm 55:19-)
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To: iowamark
Between you and I

Folks say that to sound smart. The same goes for using "myself" when "I" or "me" is appropriate.

40 posted on 09/28/2011 1:29:37 PM PDT by Mr.Unique (Very generic, non-offensive, tagline.)
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